iPhone Apps you granted camera access can secretly take photos and record video

A serious privacy issue in iPhone that could be exploited by iOS app developers to silently take your photos and record your live video by enabling cameras.

Do you use an iPhone? If yes, there is probably something that you need to know about it!

The Austrian developer and Google engineer, Felix Krause, has discovered a serious privacy issue in Apple iPhone that could be exploited by iOS app developers to silently take your photos and record your live video by enabling both front and back camera.

The iPhone users will never receive any notification from the device, technical details were shared by Krause in a blog post published Wednesday.

“iOS users often grant camera access to an app soon after they download it (e.g., to add an avatar or send a photo). These apps, like a messaging app or any news-feed-based app, can easily track the users face, take pictures, or live stream the front and back camera, without the user’s consent.” wrote Krause.

According to Krause, the issue is the direct consequence of the way Apple software handles camera access. Today almost any application, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Snapchat, requests access to your camera to allow users to take a photo within the app.

Be careful, it is not a security vulnerability, instead, it is implemented by Apple for its devices that however can be exploited by ill-intentioned to silently monitor users’ activities.

Once the users granted camera permission, a developer could perform the following operations:

access both the front and the back camera

record you at any time the app is in the foreground

take pictures and videos without telling you

upload the pictures/videos it takes immediately

run real-time face recognition to detect facial features or expressions